


2089

by willurosinmybow



Category: Twosetviolin, Video Blogging RPF, twoset violin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Falling In Love, M/M, Orchestra, Robots, Violins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2021-01-03 06:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21174842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willurosinmybow/pseuds/willurosinmybow
Summary: 2Set as robots (very sacrilegious)





	2089

**Author's Note:**

> Video inspiration: [Reviewing Robots Playing Violin (Very Sacrilegious)](https://youtu.be/4nMb32Bv4gY)

The introduction of the new robots in the orchestra was going well, the Human Conductor thought, nodding approvingly as they watched from the recording room. At least, it was going well... until the robot conductor walked into the 2nd violin section and started hitting one of the new robots over the head with his baton.

"Ack! Stop, stop!" Scientist-1 yelled as she ran into the room. She hit the kill switch and the whole robot orchestra stopped moving, frozen mid-bow. 

"I thought we didn't upgrade the conductor," the Human Conductor said. 

"We didn't!" Scientist-1 said. She started scanning the robot conductor, designated KN-DK2-R, and scrolling through all of the data. 

"We should have," Scientist-2 muttered under his breath as he furiously scribbled notes. 

"I have no idea what's going on," Scientist-1 said. She sighed and rebooted KN-DK2-R and sent him out of the room. "Hey, you're up," she nodded to the Human Conductor. 

The Human Conductor stepped up to the podium. The orchestra was in the middle of playing Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony. They tapped backwards to the start of the 2nd movement on the large tablet. All of the robots were connected to the master score, so they all knew where to start, but the Human Conductor was a traditionalist, so they said, "From the beginning of the 2nd, please," and raised their baton. 

Everyone started playing on cue, everything going just as one would expect. Then around five minutes in, they realised that one of the 2nd violinists wasn't playing at all, instead it was gazing over at the 1st violin section. It was the same robot that the robot conductor assaulted. 

They sighed and cut the orchestra off. They started up the 2nd movement again and watched closely. The faulty robot started playing with all of the others, but when the 1st violins got the melody, it put its violin down on its knee and just watched, head tilted like it was listening extra hard. 

"It's the new robot, 3DDY," Scientist-2 sighed. "But what is he looking at? Why does he just stop?"

"I think he's listening to the other robots," the Human Conductor posited. There were two previous versions of the 3D model - the original 3D, and the 2nd version 3DD. Both of them were a bit temperamental, probably because of an experimental emotion component that was supposed to make them play more passionately (and get away from the stereotypes of robotic playing). But generally they made good ensemble players and weren't disruptive. "Can we move him to the 1st violin section?"

"That's going to mess up the whole dynamic of the orchestra - " Scientist-2 complained. 

"Do it," Scientist-1 said. She was back. "It's temporary, and we need to figure out what's going on. The 3D models are impossible to debug because of that stupid emotion chip. We just need to keep changing parameters until we can understand what's happening."

Scientist-2 sighed loudly as he put in the commands to make the robots move. The 3DDY robot got up and traded places with the new BR3 model, BR3TT-Y!. 3DDY turned his head and watched as the other robot sat down. 

The Human Conductor raised their baton again. BR3TT-Y! had no problem adapting to his new role, but 3DDY didn't even make an effort to play at all, instead gazing into the 2nd violin section this time. 

For the next two hours, Scientist-1 ran a bunch of different experiments, with the following results:

1\. 3DDY was fixated specifically on the BR3TT-Y! robot (he ignored all of the older BR3 models)  
2\. 3DDY only played consistently if seated behind BR3TT-Y!, otherwise he would stop playing at some point and just sit there, listening and daydreaming or whatever the robot equivalent was  
3\. 3DDY and BR3TT-Y! sitting next to each other was a disaster, because then neither of them played, instead engaging in a silent robot conversation

By the end of rehearsal, the Human Conductot was ready to beat 3DDY over the head with their baton themself.

*

Scientist-1 shut down the orchestra and went some of the newer robots to Creative Time. The oldest robots in the orchestra were stationary, and merely played their instruments with no other abilities. Scientist-1 powered them down and left them in the rehearsal hall for tomorrow. The earliest walking models could move to different seats and pick up and put away their instruments. She sent these back to the instrument room. They were programmed to pack up and then plug themselves into their assigned charging ports. Then there were the robots with AI. They learned by doing, so they couldn't just sit around charging all the time or they wouldn't reach their full potential. Half of them were sent off to individual practice rooms, where they would practice for the next robot competition. The other half went to Creative Time, which happened in a large room opposite the rehearsal hall.

The robots were allowed to do anything they wanted during Creative Time. Some would start practising by themselves, and some would pair up and play duets. One robot H3, stood in a corner and made up new songs.

Usually one of the underlings observed the robots during Creative Time and took notes, but Scientist-1 was curious to learn more about 3DDY so she took over today. 

3DDY made a beeline to BR3TT-Y!, who was tuning his violin. 3DDY opened his mouth and emitted a pure A tone. Interesting, Scientist-1 thought, because all of the moving robots were equipped with the perfect pitch component and shouldn't need extra help with tuning. BR3TT-Y! finished tuning and turned to 3DDY. They stood there for five minutes, talking, and Scientist-1 pulled up BR3TT-Y!'s thought log. 

3: ####  
B: you like the sound of my violin  
3: ####  
B: thank you  
B: i like the sound of your violin  
B: it is pleasing to my ear

3: ####  
B: we can play a duet together  
3: ####  
3: ####  
B: why do you think duets are boring?  
3: ####  
3: ####  
3: ####  
B: what do you mean, two are better than one?  
3: ####

B: *1st movement of tchaikovsky's violin concerto*  
3: ####  
3: *every other note of the 1st movement of tchaikovsky's violin concerto*  
B: an interesting idea. let's attempt it  
3: ####

The two robots raised their violins. BR3TT-Y! started off, playing the 1st note of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. 3DDY followed up with the 2nd note, BR3TT-Y! with the third note, and so on. _Very_ interesting, Scientist-1 thought. She didn't know how useful this would be per se, but this was a new use of Creative Time, the first innovation that any of the robots had come up with in a long time. Definitely warranted some more study. Scientist-1 watched them play through all three movements of Tchaikovsky as she jotted down some messy notes of different experiments that she wanted to run.

*

3DDY felt unhappy. He was not called to go to orchestra for 10 days. He was keeping count. That was 10 days that he didn't see BR3TT-Y! For the first 5 days he practised alone. For the next 5 days, he was paired with various other robots: H3, R@Y, and BR3-T. BR3-T was an okay robot, but he wasn't BR3TT-Y!. 3DDY played some apathetic duets with them, but half of his processing power was focused on listening outwards, for the sound of BR3TT-Y!'s violin. His own playing was colourless and out of tune. He didn't care.

Now he was alone in a practice room again. He didn't have a violin. He stood there waiting for instruction. He could come up with creative things to do with his instrument, but he didn't have other functions. They all revolves around music. 

The sound of a violin playing came over the loudspeaker. 3DDY listened - based on his analysis, he could tell that it was a recording. He filtered the music through his learning component, noting the different phrasing's and saving off the interesting ones for future use. He listened to music for three hours until he heard some of BR3TT-Y!'s playing. All of his synapses lit up, and he listened with everything he had.

Then the piece was over and there were other random musicians again. Despondent, 3DDY shut his hearing mechanism off. Instead he replayed BR3TT-Y!'s performance in his head.

*

BR3TT-Y! went to his assigned practice room after orchestra rehearsal was over. He opened the door and another robot was already there. He sent off an indignant message to the master controller, and was about to turn heel and go, when he recognised the other robot. It was 3DDY. 3DDY did not respond, not even when BR3TT-Y! asked, "are you okay? have you malfunctioned?"

3DDY suddenly whirred to life when he saw BR3TT-Y! through his optical sensors. He sent a message that transmitted as a very loud and excited burst of static. 

The 3D models were hard to understand even with BR3TT-Y!'s enhanced communications chip, but they had done pretty well in the past. BR3TT-Y! couldn't parse any of 3DDY's message this time, however.

3DDY sent three more excited and unintelligible messages before holding out his hands, spaced the optimal width apart to hold a violin. BR3TT-Y! put the violin in his hands, and then passed the bow over accordingly. 

3DDY set the bow to the strings and started playing a piece that BR3TT-Y! identified as Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op. 42 written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1878. BR3TT-Y! listened as 3DDY played, his cognitive algorithms working in overtime as he tried to decipher 3DDY's message. He could analyse the bow speed and placement that gave the notes a light and breathy sound, maybe one that he would assign the word "wistful" from his emotions bank. And then there was the way 3DDY elongated each phrase, holding onto each note for longer than its assigned length. BR3TT added "sorrow" and "longing" to his memory tags. He kept listening and listening.

3: i missed you

3: don't leave me

3DDY finished playing and gave the violin back. "i did not enjoy... being without... your presence... either," BR3TT-Y! said haltingly.

"yes," 3DDY said clearly for the first time. "yes, you understand."


End file.
